Ambassador David Wilkins talks about his days attending Greenville High School. Thursday, August 30, 2012. / Heidi Heilbrunn/Staff

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COLUMBIA — Gov. Nikki Haley’s announcement that she won’t appoint a caretaker to succeed outgoing U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint effectively removes her from the Senate race in 2014, political experts say.

It also means that former U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins of Greenville won’t consider such an appointment, Wilkins told GreenvilleOnline.com.

And it increases the political drumbeat for her to appoint U.S. Rep. Tim Scott to the seat, experts say.

Wilkins said he would have considered an appointment had he been allowed to leave in two years but has no interest in running a campaign.

“Had the governor asked me to fill the unexpired term, Susan and I and the family would have had a serious discussion about it, and I would have given that very, very serious consideration,” he said.

“But I have no desire to commit to getting appointed and immediately running for re-election.”

Haley said she had several reasons for ruling out using a caretaker or “placeholder” appointment to fill the seat for DeMint, who is leaving in January to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

“I do not want to tie the next U.S. senator from South Carolina’s hands regarding future office,” Haley said.

“I do not want to deprive our state’s citizens of the chance to render their judgment on the appointee’s performance by way of their vote. Most importantly, while I am an avid supporter of term limits, I do not want the effectiveness of our state’s new U.S. senator to be undermined by the fact that he or she will automatically be leaving the office such a very short time after assuming it.”

The Republican governor said she believes the state will be “best served by a U.S. senator who will work hard day in and day out, and put him or herself before the voters at the soonest possible time. Accordingly, I reject the option of a ‘placeholder.’”

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said Haley’s statement also says something about her own political plans.

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“Since Gov. Haley has already said she won’t appoint herself via the lieutenant governor, this missive effectively removes her from the 2014 field for the DeMint seat,” he said. “That was always the probability – that she would run for re-election.”

Sabato said Haley is correct about interim senators.

“It costs a state seniority and reduces the value for a governor of making a Senate appointment,” he said. “You might as well try to elevate an ally and help to make your decision stick at election time.”

Furman University political science Professor Danielle Vinson said ruling out a caretaker appointment probably serves the state better. “But it does potentially complicate her ability to run for that seat,” she said.

Phil Noble, president of the South Carolina New Democrats, said it is logical to assume Haley won’t run for DeMint’s seat after having removed the caretaker option.

“I’m a little bit surprised,” he said. “Gov. Haley is known for wanting to keep all her options open. And given her falling approval rating, she needs some options. She’s taking an option off the table for herself, and I don’t know why she would do that.”

Mark Tompkins, a University of South Carolina political science professor, agreed her statement seems to remove her from running for DeMint’s seat.

“If she appoints Rep. Scott – and it appears that the national party is strongly interested in the symbolic value of that appointment – it makes it even less likely that there would be a serious challenge to him in 2014,” Tompkins said.

For ambitious politicians, he said, that leaves the gubernatorial race as the most promising “and most plausible for a strong challenge.”

However, Tompkins said if her appointment pleases the national party, that “may well make it easier for her to raise campaign funds from national Republican donors.”

“So it may strengthen her hand in what could otherwise be a difficult race,” he said.

Chip Felkel, a Greenville political consultant, said Haley’s statement begs the bigger question of who she wants.

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“Scott would certainly be the choice I think of many DeMint supporters,” Felkel said.

“And frankly, she’s getting a lot of pressure from outside South Carolina and from national media to appoint an African American to the U.S. Senate. You almost wonder if there is not this momentum there that makes it almost inevitable.”

State Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian said Haley’s only chance for running for DeMint’s seat was if she appointed herself. “I don’t think there is any middle ground,” he said. “I’m astounded she has taken herself out of the appointment.”

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose seat is up in 2014 at the same time that Haley’s appointee will have to run, is among the winners with Haley’s announcement on Monday, Harpootlian said.

“Whoever gets that seat is going to be the target in a primary and the general election by anybody who wants to be a United States senator,” he said.

“They’re not about to take on a two-term incumbent senator with $10 million or $15 million in the bank when they can take on somebody who’s been there for 18 months.”

He said Haley also may be “chumming the waters” with a weak appointment.

“Anybody who wants to run in a Republican primary for something will run against that person rather than me,” he said Haley may be thinking.

“If she appoints Tim Scott, it will be a feeding frenzy. The only person she makes happy with that is the national Republicans who want some diversity. Locally, he will get no deference by any Republican or Democrat.”